After a taking a week off for that big national event last week, Hart of Dixie is back tomorrow night with new episodes! Oh, hey, there’s some sort of politics on that episode too! But not the point. The point is last week I had a chance to talk with George Tucker himself about what is to come for Bluebell’s resident Golden Boy.

Click through to see what Porter had to say about George’s current state of mind, the future of his every-crazy love life, and of course, ridiculous hair styles.

First of all, I talked to Porter on Wednesday morning. Now I was tired from all the crazy election night haze. But my darling husband who best loved Porter in his appearance on G4TV’s Top 100 Games Countdown Special, was very concerned for him because not only was November 6th Election Night, it was also the release of the much anticipated XBOX360 game, Halo 4. Before I got to the hard hitting questions, I needed to make sure Porter knew his welfare was being looked out for.

Porter: “[Laughs] I just tweeted that last night. I tweeted a picture of myself in a Halo 4 t-shirt. And I was like, ‘This is what I’ll be doing all night.’ On election night, honestly there is nothing… sitting there and watching it, I’ve done it before. The first election I could ever vote was the Bush/Gore election and I lived in Florida at the time. And if you remember, that’s the election that at 2am they just said, ‘You know what? I think we can call it… We’re not sure.’ And I ended up passing out on the couch and had a 7am college class the next morning. And, so, my election night memories are kind of tainted. So I said ‘No new Hart of Dixie, folks, because of a little thing called election day. But I know what I’m going to be doing, because Halo 4 just dropped. So yes, I’ll be on that all night.’ I didn’t go to be til like 3:30-4am last night and I was up at 7am to start doing interviews this morning. So tell your man I’m much appreciative of his concern for me.”

Scott, Kevin is glad you got your gaming in. In fact, he’s currently gaming as I transcribe this, so… maybe he’ll see you on there. Anyway…. That was too funny for me not to include, but I suppose you are interested in what’s going on in Bluebell. Don’t worry. Porter told me a lot about what’s going on there as well!

I told him I was worried about George’s life choices, as were many of the viewers. I wanted to know what Porter thought George was feeling nowadays, and here’s what he said:

Porter: “The thing with George is, and I don’t read a lot of messages boards or anything like that, I don’t really know, except for on Twitter when people tweet directly at me, the frustrations people have with George… In the first season he was incredibly defined by his relationships. And what I mean by that is that he wasn’t really his true self for a lot of the year because he was trying to fix something that was broken with his relationship with his fiancé. And he didn’t know what was broken. He had no idea what it was. And it wasn’t until he found out about the affair that we truly got a glimpse into who George could be if he wasn’t defined by his relationship with Lemon. He’s an incredibly selfless guy. He’s the guy that wants to, so badly, help other people, that he ends up hurting himself. It’s a vicious circle because if you put off your feelings for so long and then they manifest themselves in a very aggressive manner as they did for George last season, you end up hurting people, more than you end up helping them.

“I think there was a great scene this year where Lemon says, ‘George you have such a big heart that you don’t think through things.’ I think it says a lot for George to show up on the boat and say to Lemon ‘If you’re pregnant, I’m here for you and I don’t care what it takes, you’re not going to raise this baby alone. I’m going to be a great father and going to be a great man for you.’ And that’s what George wants to do so badly. And he would have put everything aside and put all his feelings aside and he would have sacrificed for her. And that’s what he did for her, really, for the entire first season. Now that he’s not tethered to a relationship like that and now that he is kind of alone and adrift a little bit, he’s finding out that as an adult…you know entering the dating world at 30 years old, is a little bit daunting. Most people do that in college, or in their mid-twenties when they’re just out of college and their entering the work force and there’s a lot of other distractions. But you’ve got to realize that George has his own law firm, he has his status in town, he has his friendships and there’s not really a lot of prospects out there. And when he’s approached by one, he gotta learn how to kind of fit himself into someone new’s life. He’s a creature of habit, a little bit and fifteen years in a relationship has kind of hobbled him a little bit, meaning he has to figure out what to do in order to reinvigorate himself a little bit and to kind to put himself out there a little bit.”

I really appreciated Porter’s perspective on George there. I think I get so caught up in Zoe/Wade, I forget why I liked George so much in the first place! And here’s what Porter thinks of the Zoe/George issues that have risen up in the second season.

Porter: “As far as George and Zoe go… he really has what he feels are true feelings for her. He really thinks that it’s.. it’s kind of destiny. He’s a self made man, in a way. His relationship with his family is not good by any means. He’s never taken anything from his dad. He went to New York on his own and tried to make it on his own. And he sees that same kind of spirit in Zoe. Somebody who is very ambitious. And somebody who is willing to do anything to succeed and prove others wrong. And that’s more than just the NY connection. That’s a kindred spirit connection. Because they really are. Really intelligent, really driven people who are successful. Who don’t rest on their laurels and don’t lay back, professionally. I think George is just trying to do what he can for Zoe and falling back into old habits. She’s saying ‘I need you do this for me’ and he’s kind of going out there and doing exactly that. What I will say, in the second half of the season you are going to see that change. You are going to see George make his own decisions.”

And what inspires these changes? Well that was a little more than hinted at when I asked him about George finding out about Wade. Porter feels that, at least on some level, George knew who Zoe meant when she said she was seeing someone. But what will be the repercussions of that?

Porter: “You’ll see George deal with that in a couple of episodes. George and Wade have an episode where they spend a lot of time together. But George at that point is also finding out that he may have real feelings for someone else as well. And is just kind of ready in the second half of the season to box up his feelings for Zoe and put them to the side and kind of ignore them. You can only be strung along for so long, I guess. And George said it in the first episode of season 2, ‘what if that doesn’t happen.’ She draws up this perfect scenario – you are going to go out and find you who you are and you aren’t going to be broken anymore and you and I are going to be great together – and he says ‘yeah, but what if it doesn’t work like that?’ There is always a very real chance that it doesn’t happen. And as unadult George can come off as socially sometimes, because of his inexperience, he’s a smart enough guy to know that dream scenarios don’t always come true. and he ends up meeting someone who was around in season 1 and comes back in season 2. George ends up realizing – she is the polar opposite of George’s – and he ends up realizing that this girl may be exactly what he needs right now. And it completely and totally changes his character, for the better, I believe, going towards the second half of the season.”

Now who is this mystery woman? Well, I have a sneaking suspicion based on some other news I’ve read about this season of Hart of Dixie, but in case you haven’t read that certain bit of casting, I won’t mention it. But feel free to leave your comments below!

When I asked my Twitter feed about questions for Porter, one of the most popular was: “Is he going to sing again?” So, of course, I had to ask. I also apologized for always linking to the Pop! Goes My Heart music video every time George sings. Or I when I even mention the possibility of George singing, apparently.

“First of all, don’t apologize for that. That may be one of my favorite things I’ve ever shot. We shot that music video in a few days and I think [Music and Lyrics director] Marc Lawrence did such a good job crafting an old 80s video rip-off. It’s brilliant. Singing on the show, as of now, none is planned. I hope that the next time George sings it’s in a more intimate, maybe, fashion. I’d love for that to happen. Something sweet and something small. Something not showy, performance wise. I think it would show a different side of George. To see how he is with someone when there is not something broken in the relationship. Something sweet, something cute, something funny. But as of right now, no plans to have him sing. But on this show, and this town of Bluebell, you never know.”

Fingers crossed something else happens so I have a chance to post a link to that video again. It’s my favorite.

But if the rest of season 2 goes by with nary a note coming from George Tucker, you needn’t worry because Porter has a movie coming out this summer called The To-Do List. His character, Rusty Waters, sings. He also has a ridiculous hair style. And given what Wilson Bethel is sporting hair-wise in Stupid Hype, I had to ask if they lost a bet or something.

“Rusty Waters character description was exactly this: 1990s grunge lifeguard with the hair of Kurt Cobain and the body of Marky Mark. So I knew what I was getting into. As for Stupid Hype – that’s self-inflicted. Wilson created that character and went out on his own and did that. He gets no sympathy.”

Curious as to what I’m talking about? Here’s a link to The To Do List trailer, but be careful, it’s Red Band and for good reason! And check out Bethel’s Stupid Hype. Both a bit of a departure from George Tucker and Wade Kinsella, don’t ya think? When I told Porter I wanted a poster of the two of them in their hair styles he told me he’d talk to Wilson about getting Rusty Waters in Season 2 of Stupid Hype. Make this happen, boys. I want my poster!!

I loved talking to Porter. He was super nice and even gave me some tips for my trip to Austin this June. (Texas Forever!) And while I’m still Team Wade, I never left being Team George, in general. I just want everyone to be happy. Is that so wrong? Maybe this returning mystery woman will be just that – the key to George’s happiness! To find out, keep tuning in to Hart of Dixie every Tuesday night at 8pm on The CW. And then come here to read my review and join the always fun conversation in the comments!

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Tracie

Thank you for a really well done interview. I lean Team Wade as well, but I do enjoy reading Scott’s perspective on George. I don’t dislike George and I think Scott gets some of the frustration some people have with the character. It sounds like good things are to come for George in the 2nd half of the season.